Karen Green–David Foster Wallace's widow–struggles to deal w his suicide(2011)(theguardian.com)
theguardian.com
Karen Green–David Foster Wallace's widow–struggles to deal w his suicide(2011)
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/apr/10/karen-green-david-foster-wallace-interview
10 comments
Can you explain what you mean by "pretentious"?
I'm never clear just what people mean when they use it to describe a piece of literature or music. Sorry if my question is overly basic.
I'm never clear just what people mean when they use it to describe a piece of literature or music. Sorry if my question is overly basic.
It can come accross a bit: 'you dont like it ? Thats because you dont"get" it'.
> It has also been called metamodernist and hysterical realist.
The piece itself, I quite like, but I can definitely see why some people feel they're 'supposed' to like it, and for me, that certainly adds a whiff of pretentiousness.
Also, its no secret that the structure of the book itself, is just crazy.
> It has also been called metamodernist and hysterical realist.
The piece itself, I quite like, but I can definitely see why some people feel they're 'supposed' to like it, and for me, that certainly adds a whiff of pretentiousness.
Also, its no secret that the structure of the book itself, is just crazy.
I'm glad I read the whole thing... but the dude needed an editor.
Several of his footnotes are essentially short stories and have their own tangents and footnotes. Sort of the literary equivalent to the "cut-away" phenomenon of the 2000s. Think Arrested Development or Family Guy or The Royal Tannebaums, where they made a joke and it flashes back to a mini-scene 15 years earlier. It breaks up the narrative and allows for deeper exploration of the joke or concept. Same idea with IJ, or other DFW works where he uses the footnotes.
Several of his footnotes are essentially short stories and have their own tangents and footnotes. Sort of the literary equivalent to the "cut-away" phenomenon of the 2000s. Think Arrested Development or Family Guy or The Royal Tannebaums, where they made a joke and it flashes back to a mini-scene 15 years earlier. It breaks up the narrative and allows for deeper exploration of the joke or concept. Same idea with IJ, or other DFW works where he uses the footnotes.
Good question!
I think “pretentious” means “they are doing this to impress me, and it doesn’t seem authentic.”
I think “pretentious” means “they are doing this to impress me, and it doesn’t seem authentic.”
Yeah, DFW is just not a good writer, imo.
He just got big popularity boost due to his suicide, much like Nirvana did when Kurt Cobain killed himself.
If both of these people stayed alive, they'd likely just have faded in to obscurity.
He just got big popularity boost due to his suicide, much like Nirvana did when Kurt Cobain killed himself.
If both of these people stayed alive, they'd likely just have faded in to obscurity.
IJ was published in 1996 and DFW died in 2008, it was already popular long before he killed himself. And Nirvana was hugely popular after the release of Nevermind in 1991, Kurt died in 1994. What you're saying makes no sense.
While I'm not a fan of DFW's fiction, his talent as an essayist is truly remarkable.
In some way they are still alive.
Reminds me of an observation, source unknown: "A person remains alive as long as memory of their existence persists in someone's mind."
All this said, I still to this day cannot wade my way through infinite jest. I get about a third of the way through and it just feels too damn pretentious.